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Johnny Depp Sued by Former Bodyguards, Claim They Were Exposed to 'Illegal Substances'

Home / The Law / Johnny Depp Sued by Former Bodyguards, Claim They Were Exposed to 'Illegal Substances'

By TheBlast Staff on May 4, 2018 at 5:51 AM EDT

Johnny Depp is being sued by two former bodyguards who claim the star constantly exposed them to "unsafe conditions" and "illegal substances" that became so bad they were forced to quit.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Eugene Arreola (a retired LAPD detective) and Miguel Sanchez claimed they worked for a private agency that provided security for Depp since 2007. But in 2016, the two men claim they were hired as part of Depp’s in-house security team.

"In early 2016 Plaintiffs began to notice a stark change in Depp and the atmosphere on his Hollywood Hills compound," the lawsuit claims. "Depp began making sudden and drastic changes to his staff and management team, causing a significant financial crunch for everyone surrounding Depp, except for Depp himself."

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The suit claims once they began working directly for Depp, Arreola and Sanchez noticed their paychecks were missing overtime and rest pay. They claim that from 2016 to 2018, they did not receive any overtime and did not get “meal and rest breaks as mandated by law."

As time wore on, Arreola and Sanchez claim they "found themselves in situations that required more than what a bodyguard would be expected to do.” They claim they were "asked repeatedly to drive vehicles that contained illegal substances" and "were asked to monitor unstable individuals in [Depp’s] life and entourage."

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On one occasion, the two men claim Depp was at out at a nightclub and they had had to alert "Depp of illegal substances visible on his face and person while preventing onlookers from noticing Depp’s condition."

The suit also details an incident where Depp's head of security accidentally shot himself in the leg while in Depp's house.

They conclude by saying, "As a result of the toxic and dangerous work environment and the constant labor code violations of their employers, Plaintiffs were forced to leave their employment despite the fact that they enjoyed many of the people they worked with and have no ill will toward Johnny Depp."

Arreola and Sanchez are seeking unspecified damages.

We reached out to a rep for Depp for comment — so far, no word back.

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